Linde to feature hydrogen fueling technologies for fuel cell vehicles

Trade News

Murray Hill & New Providence, New Jersey, U.S., 28 April 2010 – Linde North America will showcase its next-generation hydrogen fueling technologies at the National Hydrogen Association (NHA) 21st annual conference, which will be held at the Long Beach Convention Center, Long Beach California, from 3 to 5 May 2010.

Linde North America, a member of The Linde Group, a world-leading gases and engineering company, will feature its ground-breaking technologies that provide safe, fast and efficient ways to fuel hydrogen vehicles. NHA, the world’s largest hydrogen technology trade association, was established in 1989 to foster the development of hydrogen technologies and their utilization in industrial, commercial, and consumer applications and promote the role of hydrogen in the energy field.

Visit Linde at booth # 109 to discuss the latest developments for supplying and fueling hydrogen-powered vehicles, including forklifts, buses and automobiles. Linde’s newly formed alternative energy team, created to focus the company’s North American efforts on its world-class technology capabilities in hydrogen and other fueling solutions, will be available to discuss all aspects of Linde’s existing systems along with those being commercially introduced this year, such as the Linde Ionic Compressor system.

This system has been used extensively in Europe for cars and buses and now is being introduced to North America for hydrogen powered buses and fork lift trucks. Unlike conventional mechanical systems which use a piston in the pressurizing process, the Ionic Compressor uses an ionic liquid in direct contact with hydrogen.

“The Ionic Compressor is a step-change in the area of hydrogen fueling,” said Mike Beckman, head of the Linde North America’s alternate energy team. “It is a high-efficiency, high-throughput, low-maintenance and low-noise compression solution to allow fast and safe filling of vehicles,” he said.

Coupled with Linde’s proprietary fueling protocol and advanced station design, the Ionic Compressor is part of a complete and compact indoor or outdoor compression, storage and dispensing solution for the hydrogen fuel cell bus and fork lift truck markets.

Linde will also introduce another high-performance hydrogen fuel system to the North American market — the MF-90 hydrogen fueling station. This containerized system, first developed and commercialized in Europe, is easy to deploy and can efficiently supply both 350 bar and 700 bar hydrogen to automobiles.

“We’re well beyond hydrogen-powered vehicles being a scientific curiosity.. The technologies Linde has developed demonstrate that fueling these vehicles is a commercial reality. And, with increased emphasis on alternative fuels in Washington D.C. and an increasing number of state houses, I think we’ll see commercialization grow at a much faster pace over the next few years,” Beckman said.

Linde, one of the earliest entrants into the hydrogen energy arena, is a leader in the safe production, storage and distribution of hydrogen. Linde is the world’s only company with in-house technology to fuel gaseous or liquid hydrogen regardless of the mode of on-board storage.

Linde has equipped over 70 hydrogen fueling stations in 15 countries, supplying hydrogen for projects large and small. Amounts supplied range from a few hundred cubic feet of compressed hydrogen in cylinders to thousands of tons of liquid and gaseous hydrogen delivered by tank truck or pipeline.

In the U.S., Linde has supplied hydrogen fueling stations for fork lift trucks at distribution centers owned and operated by large retail and food service companies, and recently agreed to provide systems for automotive, food and soft drink companies. Linde also will supply a hydrogen vehicle fueling station for the San Francisco Airport.

The Linde Group is a world leading gases and engineering company with 48,000 employees working in more than 100 countries worldwide. In the 2009 financial year it achieved sales of EUR 11.2 billion (USD 15.3 billion). The strategy of The Linde Group is geared towards sustainable earnings-based growth and focuses on the expansion of its international business with forward-looking products and services. Linde acts responsibly towards its shareholders, business partners, employees, society and the environment – in every one of its business areas, regions and locations across the globe. Linde is committed to technologies and products that unite the goals of customer value and sustainable development.